I was sent a free sample of Neuropasil, Nerve Pain Formula recently. It was developed by a renowned podiatrist who specializes in Medicine and Surgery of the foot and ankle, Dr. Enrico. I’m all for natural products so I was eager to see what was in this formulation.

You take one tablet twice a day and get a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, including alpha lipoic acid and inositol. These ingredients all promote optimal nerve health and supposedly you start to experience results in 2 weeks with maximum relief in 4-6 weeks. I’m not sure I have enough nerve pain in order to experience “relief” since all I ever get once in a while (if I wear high heels) is a twinge of nerve pain under my right toe. But I can say that after 3 weeks of taking this I haven’t felt any twinges of pain. So that’s cool :)

I asked Dr. Enrico a few questions about this product:

Who is Neuropasil for?

Neuropasil is a nutritional supplement that people can use to manage nerve pain and support nerve health. Anyone who suffers from nerve pain, or neuropathy, may benefit from this supplement, including people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, carpal tunnel, fibromyalgia, chronic neck and back pain, neuropathy associated with chemotherapy, among others.

Can people get the ingredients for Neuropasil in their diet?

Theoretically yes, but realistically no. Neuropasil contains a proprietary blend of B vitamins, minerals like Alpha Lipoic Acid and supplements. While these ingredients are naturally occurring in certain green vegetables, in order benefit from these you would have to consume a very large amount of these foods. Its best to incorporate a nutritional supplement with these ingredients into your daily diet to get the nutrients that you need.

Aside from taking this supplement, what else can people with nerve pain do to help their symptoms?

In relation to diabetic neuropathy, the best thing to do is keep your blood sugar under control and to exercise, which keeps you healthy and releases endorphins which can help ease pain.

Last night I couldn’t sleep. First, my son woke my husband and I up at 2am. Then his crying woke up his sister and so my husband and I were up an hour, each with a baby in arms. After a while we didn’t know how to calm them down so they each got their morning bottle a couple hours early. It worked although I had to stay on the couch with my little girl because she was glued to me. Funny mama’s girl.

Anyway, by 3:30 am when I got back into bed I found myself thinking about my eyes. I’ve never had a problem with them (aside from worsening vision every year since age 14). Diabetes-wise I’ve been fine. I have noticed my eye pressure reading and glaucoma test results creeping up each year though they’ve always been in normal range.

Last year with my twin pregnancy my eyes were perfectly fine until I got really big at around the 7th month mark. What my doctor noticed was a few leaky blood vessels in each eye. She said they were small and probably due to the twin pregnancy (double the blood to pump in the body strains the eye!) She did want to stress that I must not miss the next year’s routine eye exam, however. And of course she told me to try hard to keep blood sugars steady so those blood vessels would have a better chance at disappearing.

Today I had that exam and we found that my glaucoma and eye pressure exams were better than they’ve been in years (odd but, awesome news). Then she said it, “Your eyes are fine.” I said, “What about the blood vessels? Did they shrink?” “They did, in fact their gone! What have you done lately?”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, keep up the good work and remember your best defense is managing your blood sugars well and getting in here once a year!”

<<SIGH>>

I can’t tell you how relieved I am. Now that it’s been a couple of hours and looking at the computer screen is no longer like glaring at the sun I’ve tried to take note of what I’ve done differently in the past year.

One thing is I feel like my blood pressure has been good this past year. It’s never been really high but, I have always stressed at work to the point of having panic attacks or heart palpitations and being home with two babies has meant feeling much more calm and relaxed. (Even though I often seem like a wild, clucking, mother hen).

Another thing is that I’ve been more active. Instead of working out more I’ve been more steadily active. Before my babies I worked about a decade and the job always involved sitting at a desk in front of a computer. Then I’d get home and do a work out (or not). Now, taking care of two toddlers means constant lifting and squatting. My shoulders are kind of like an NBA player’s and my thighs are pretty wide with muscle. All this lifting has created super abs (which are covered with loose skin so don’t ask me to prove it). Point is, It has probably been beneficial to do more constant and steady moving throughout the day. Lifting weights seems to help whether this is a child or a dumbell. (Although I don’t think lifting weights is recommended if there are some problems with the eyes-not good to strain them!)

Last but not least I’ve also really cut out processed foods. I’ve cut my salt intake considerably and my caffeine intake is very small compared to what it used to be.

These small and subtle changes just might have done more than I ever expected them to.